After McRae finished reading his verse, he slipped into yarn
spinning. He talked about some interlopers who had come onto his
ranch one spring evening.

According to his story, word reached McRae at the main house
that
trespassers had been spotted camping on a far corner of his
property.

McRae promptly grabbed his hat and coat and jumped into his
truck. Another person in the house, knowing about McRae`s
volatile temper and his intense dislike for trespassers, said: “Better
call the
Sheriff, just in case there`s
real trouble.”

The Sheriff and McRae arrived on the scene at just about the
same time. As it turned out, the interlopers were two college
botany professors hoping to study the flora and
fauna in
Rosebud County.

Singularly unimpressed with their academic mission, McRae
ordered them off his property immediately.

With the potential dust up now dampened, the Sheriff asked
McRae what difference it made to him if a couple of innocent,
well-intended scholars camped out while they did their research.
After all, according to the Sheriff`s logic, McRae owns 30,000
acres.

Here, paraphrased, is McRae`s reply:

“The difference is that this is
my land…mine. I inherited it from my Scottish parents and
grandparents. I worked hard to develop it. I poured my own sweat
into it. If I invite you onto my property you will be my welcome
guest. But if you are uninvited, you better clear the hell out.”

McRae may sound like a curmudgeon. But remember, the
botanists had not asked his permission. If he didn`t
defend his land, who else would come onto it?

McRae`s problem with trespassers and his sympathetic Sheriff
are the same as ours with illegal immigration and those who
excuse it.

We too are often asked: “What difference does it make?”
According to the tortured logic applied by
illegal immigration sympathizers, we in America have so
much, why can`t we share it?

And just as the botanists mission may have been admirable,
illegal aliens claim to be here for the most noble of all
reasons…”to have a better life.”

But my reply is the same as McRae`s—America is our country.
If we invite you here, that`s one thing. But if you sneak in, no
matter what your purpose is, you`ll be asked to leave, pronto.

I can
hear the reconquistas scream that America is not our country
but properly belongs to Mexico. We double-dealing Yankees, so
the thinking goes, stole it from Mexico.

(While we`re on the subject, pretty much could be said for
legal immigrants too. As Ed Rubenstein recently
pointed out, there are more of them. And, because of the
“family reunification”scam,legal immigration is
set on automatic pilot, as a practical matter out of the control
of the American people and divorced from American interests as
illegal immigration.)

Moreover, at least the botanists wanted to advance
science. What public good is really served by current
immigration?—once you realize that, as VDARE.COM has frequently
reported, the
consensus among labor economists is that there is
essentially
no net economic gain to native-born Americans as a result of
immigration.

No one can convincingly argue that illegal aliens have played
a major role in America`s expansion. When the illegal alien
invasion accelerated after the
1965 Immigration Act, America was
already an advanced country. Despite the opinions of some,
we require no outside help to keep improving it.

As McRae said, if and when we need you, we`ll come calling.

Joe Guzzardi [e-mail
him] is the Editor of VDARE.COM Letters to the Editor.
In addition, he is an English teacher at the Lodi Adult School and has
been writing
a weekly newspaper column since 1988. This column is exclusive
to
VDARE.COM.